We try (and sometimes fail) to make God the center of our family. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We pray together as a family every day.

Home Schooling

Mike Hotel is a product of public school failure. After staying back as a Senior in high school, Mike stopped pinning the blame on himself and started asking why school had to be so structured and rigid. Mike and the Mrs. both believe that learning should be tailored to each child. They also believe that if anyone is going to indoctrinate children, it should be their parents, not some random teacher. Teachers are people, too, and there certainly are some good ones out there. However, we, as parents, know what is best for our children.

Simplicity

It is getting harder and harder to live a simple life in this world. As I sit here and type this on my laptop, I’m thinking about how lousy it is that I’m using technology to write out this part of our philosophy. So we try to keep it as simple as possible. For us, that means no car payments, no credit cards, no outstanding debt of any kind except for our (ack!) mortgage. We have a dream of getting rid of that as well, but that will take some radical movement on our part.

We like to grow food for the table, eat eggs from our flock and are working on our meat staples for the year.

Love the simple way you write and am refreshed by how you think…just wanted you to know that Joe got married last April to Stephanie in Live Oak, FL and they are going to have their first girl…McCayla Elizabeth, this April…he might enjoy hearing from you as he has talked about you, Justin and himself…blessings on all you do. Rick Searles

Hey Rick. I’ve been keeping up with Joe on facebook. Sounds like he is settling in well. I miss the old days of he and I ripping it up in the snowmobile! And another grandchild! Whew! How many is that for you now?

Wow I am so encouraged by your blog!! A lot of your philosophy section is litterally written verbatim if the way I have described mine to others. We are just starting out with meat rabbits and chickens in our covenant controlled community in Douglas county. We’ll see how well we’re able to keep the secret. Thank you for your posts!!

I.h-a-t-e.covenants. Being from Maine, I had no clue what they were when I moved out here. Our community had covenants put in place by an H.O.A. in the 70’s, but thankfully, they went defunct in the 80’s. I do what I want, within reason.

I used to live in Douglas County (Parker) in the early 00’s. I was too much of a hick to be there! 😉

Remember, it’s all about what people can/can’t see. Get crafty. Nobody should be able to tell you what you can/can’t do on your own property. That theory defies liberty.

If you haven’t harvested bunnies yet, email me. I’ll invite you to the next Great Bunny Massacre. I’m not good at it yet, but I know the basics. tinyhomesteaders@gmail.com

I hate HOAs as well. It seems like such a robbery of our basic freedoms. While they can be helpful for keeping the neighborhood from going to pot, they also go way too far. I think I have it all figured out as far as being able to hide them visually. My only concern now is one neighbor being able to hear the chickens and also the possibility of the kids in the neighborhood spreading the word after coming over to play with my kids. We’ll see how it goes anyways.

I would love to come to the harvest!! I did harvest some wild cottontail over the summer but I imagine homegrown meat rabbits are a bit different. We raise Standard Rex rabbits so I’m very interested in tanning the pelts since their fur is so soft. I’ll send you an email, thanks!

Thanks for the comment on my latest chicken post. You have a great blog here, I look forward to reading more!

I also struggle with the same desire to live simply, yet our world has become designed to rely on technology. I have a love/hate relationship with this concept. Sometimes I desire to go back not having a cell phone, but my work requires constant email attention, and I love that I can connect and read about other people’s adventures via blogs. I applaud you for giving up your TV, there is no way my Mr. would abandon football!

I like your blog a lot! Shooting possums and drinking wine? Heaven.
I dislike technology, yet here I sit, typing away. I love to write, but I have to tell you, if I had to go back to pen and paper, I’d die.
It is interesting how when you don’t have television and you go some place like a hotel, it makes someplace simple seem like more fun. Thanks for reading. I look forward to reading more from you and yours in 2013.

I wish I could talk my hubby out of the TV. It kills me to put out almost one hundered dollars a month just so he can watch some really mind numbing crap!! The only reason I can justify the PC is that I sell my livestock and artwork through it and It pays for itself.

It’s very encouraging to read of people with very similar desires for their family. I often feel, living close to a large city in Canada, that even within the church people are very dependent on grocery stores, technology, electricity, etc. without giving any thought to what they are consuming, physically, mentally and spiritually. It’s always a breath of fresh air to read/hear of others who are following the road less traveled and trying to teach their children to work hard and appreciate what God has created over what man has “created”.

Hi Mike, Glad you found me, so I could find you. I love to see kindred spirits and find out how they’re hacking their lives. Great for inspiration. A school bus. How awesomely ironic for a homeschooler.

Amen to all that! You have a nice blog here and a beautiful family. I like your tagline, how you say so much with few words, and that our family ethos are similar. Also that your username is from the phonetic alphabet–very clever 🙂

Downtown, home gardening, using biodynamic and permaculture methods to produce as much of our own food at 6600 ft. in the Rocky Mountains as possible, then preparing it Weston A. Price style, leaning toward Paleo!